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Obama has said in the past affirmative action helped him get into school but doesn't think his daughters should get preferential treatment.
AP Photo

In the 2004 Democratic Convention keynote speech that catapulted him onto the national stage, he began publicly offering a broader view on race, famously saying, "There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America — there's the United States of America."

In his 2006 tome, “The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream” — the difference in tone is nicely captured in the subtitle’s repurposing of the word “dream” — he wrote, “An emphasis on universal, as opposed to race-specific, programs isn’t just good policy: It’s also good politics.”

If Obama does propose a new preferences program based on class, not race, poll numbers suggest it would indeed be “good politics.” A Rasmussen poll published last week found that 58 percent of Americans opposed government programs that offered “special treatment to women and minorities,” compared to 26 percent who support such a policy.

Though hardly a top issue for most voters, a majority of Americans believe a candidate’s “position on affirmative action programs is important in determining how they will vote,” according to Rasmussen.

An analysis of surveys by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press shows that a majority of whites are of two minds about affirmative action, with most supporting the idea of government programs that make “special efforts” to “make up for past discrimination” and yet most opposing programs that directly favor minorities and women.

When race and gender are removed from the equation, support increases dramatically: A 2005 Pew poll found that nearly nine out of ten whites reported support for a policy that would help Americans from “low income brackets” to “get ahead.”

While a new, class-based affirmative action would still largely aid those minorities, including blacks, that are overrepresented amongst the poor and working class — in fact, officials in California have attempted to use income as a proxy for race-based preferences after voters disallowed their use in a referenda — Obama has yet to offer any specific plan of his own.

“Obama is missing an enormous opportunity because a lot of those who are skeptical [of him] could close escrow on him if he could give some very visible explanation of his non-raciality,” said Ward Connerly, the former University of California regent who is funding the three anti-affirmative action measures on state ballots this year, and who has previously pursued such measures successfully in California, Washington and Michigan.

Connerly believes such a stance would lose Obama only a small part of his black support while allowing him to “make far larger gains” among whites.

Obama, though, has kept his policy views close to his vest while maintaining his opposition to Connerly, who has fared far better at the ballot box than in the legislative hall.

Obama told a convention of minority journalists in Chicago last month that “I am disappointed that John McCain flipped and changed his position. I think in the past he had been opposed to these kinds of Ward Connerly referenda or initiatives as divisive. And I think he’s right.”

In 1998 McCain did characterize a similar proposed anti-affirmative action measure in Arizona as “divisive,” though that proposal never made it on to the ballot. Over the years however, McCain has generally opposed affirmative action programs, and called for a new, economic-based system to replace the current race and gender-based one.

While ballot initiatives appear to have increased turnout in non-presidential years, “there is precious little evidence that these ballot initiatives drive up turnout in the presidential election,” notes Kenneth Bickers, who directs the political science department at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

For this reason Bickers doesn’t expect the ballot initiatives there to directly impact who wins Colorado, which many expect to be a key swing state this fall.

"I don’t think he is missing an opportunity on affirmative action," said Clyburn. “Affirmative action ought never to be used on simply color," he continued. Rather, it is needed " when the color of one’s skin puts one in a position of being treated unequally."

Bickers, though, believes race-based affirmative action works against Obama: “It racializes the campaign in a sense that Obama has been trying to avoid.”

Even after Obama’s call for a “national conversation on race” following the emergence of inflammatory comments by his longtime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, he’s engaged the topic of race very selectively, even declining to speak to The New York Times for an article on that very conversation.

Obama, Bickers went on, “needs a very large black turnout in several key states. And if he takes a position that suppresses the enthusiasm of potential voters who are [supporters of] affirmative action, then he’d be in trouble,” he said.

Polls have consistently shown Obama’s support among blacks at over 90 percent, and given the popularity of class-based affirmative action among whites, embracing that view could earn him considerably more new white votes than the black votes he might lose.

Obama, said Bickers, “could use it if he wanted to have his own Sister Souljah moment about affirmative action to redefine it in economic terms and that would play in to a post-racial candidacy."

Readers' Comments (1164)

As routinely shown, Obama will say anything to get elected. It's called pandering! The problem is, we the electorate, haven't a clue on what he really stands for as his opinions/stances change almost daily. Pitiful!!

Polls have consistently shown Obama’s support among blacks at over 90 percent, and given the popularity of class-based affirmative action among whites, embracing that view could earn him considerably more new white votes than the black votes he might lose.

Polls have consistently shown Obama’s support among blacks at over 90 percent, and given the popularity of class-based affirmative action among whites, embracing that view could earn him considerably more new white votes than the black votes he might lose.

Nothing but a numbers game to him...

Exactly right and yet with every issue it becomes clearer that he simply panders for votes. You can always tell when he's about to flip flop or even address a new issue, as he floats his idea out there through MSM to see how people react and then he takes the side that seemingly will get him more votes. It's almost funny but then again if he was the President could we really wait for him to figure out what the world thought on every issue. What a ****!

Good, At work, and I just finished making breakfast for my workers. I always do something on Sundays special for them. Today it was Donuts, Bagels and all the fixins for Breakfast sandwiches. I'm going to smell like sausage and bacon all day but the smils on their faces make it all worthwile!!!

Been good. Busy as all get out at work so this weekend has been pretty much R & R. Wife and daughter are out of town so have to spend some time getting the house in order today, but had to check out who was saying what.

By the way, I'm sure your co-workers appreciate the kindness. Good on you.

Been good. Busy as all get out at work so this weekend has been pretty much R & R. Wife and daughter are out of town so have to spend some time getting the house in order today, but had to check out who was saying what.

By the way, I'm sure your co-workers appreciate the kindness. Good on you.

It is just good business sense. I opened this hotel two years ago and I have had almost no employee "turnover". This is unheard of in the Hotel Industry. My people like working here so much they just do not leave. I pay a great wage and they get extra perks all the time which helps, but it all comes down to how you treat them EVERY DAY! From a business standpoint it makes sense to because all those "extras" I do are nothing compared to the cost of hiring and training a "new" employee.

Since 2004, the first black major party nominee from either party has been offering comments suggesting that economic status should match or even trump race and gender as a criteria for who should benefit from the program—though he’s yet to propose a specific policy, let alone one that matches his rhetoric

Wait, you mean to suggest Obama has yet to propose a specific policy?! Say it isn't so! Sounds vaguely similar to just about every other idea he's been spurting since deciding to run.

Neither he nor his supporters can say what "change" he will bring or how he will do it. He is the epitome of an empty suit.

Exactly right and yet with every issue it becomes clearer that he simply panders for votes. You can always tell when he's about to flip flop or even address a new issue, as he floats his idea out there through MSM to see how people react and then he takes the side that seemingly will get him more votes. It's almost funny but then again if he was the President could we really wait for him to figure out what the world thought on every issue. What a ****!

In this case, Barry can pull this off. The negro vote is Barry's no matter what he says. Yes, I said negro. In the UNCF and NAACP can still use negro and colored , so can I.

My brother Barry will say and do anything to get in office. He will carry Margaret Sanger's flag to get the liberal vote. He will cling to the teachings of Frank Davis, Marx, and Alinsky to keep the socialist vote. He will throw his affirmative action under the bus in order to get the moderate vote. The man has turn 720 degrees in in a few months.

The proof is in the pudding as they say, and you must be doing something right. I only know one other person in the Hotel business (Hampton Inn) and she says the turnover is unbelievable, not to mention good employees are hard to find. Of course the wages there are pretty low so you get what you pay for.

In this case, Barry can pull this off. The negro vote is Barry's no matter what he says. Yes, I said negro. In the UNCF and NAACP can still use negro and colored , so can I.

My brother Barry will say and do anything to get in office. He will carry Margaret Sanger's flag to get the liberal vote. He will cling to the teachings of Frank Davis, Marx, and Alinsky to keep the socialist vote. He will throw his affirmative action under the bus in order to get the moderate vote. The man has turn 720 degrees in in a few months.

I may be wrong in the end, but I seriously doubt the majority of Americans will elect someone like Barack into office. His pandering for votes is worse then any candidate I've seen. Timewill tell though.